CHATSWORTH — After four weeks of testimony by relatives, police officers, psychologists and teachers, the defense in the murder trial of Brandon McInerney rested its case Monday morning.

McInerney, 17, chose not to take the stand and defend himself against the murder and hate crime charges he is facing for shooting Larry King, 15, in an Oxnard classroom in 2008. King was wearing effeminate clothes and telling friends he was gay.

"Obviously he is confident of the state of the evidence, as are we," his lawyer Scott Wippert said outside the courthouse. "There was no need."

The prosecution is now putting on a rebuttal case and closing arguments could be heard by the end of the week.

Among the last witnesses to testify for the defense on Monday was their hate crime expert, Randal Hecht, who said McInerney was not bothered by other gay students.

"Based on all the evidence you have reviewed and these statements, does it appear to you that Brandon had a bias toward Larry King just because he was gay?" Wippert asked.

"No," Hecht said. He previously testified that the shooting stemmed from the conflict the two were having.

But Ventura County District Attorney Maeve Fox asked Hecht if he reviewed a number of things when considering his opinion, including testimony from McInerney's friend — who McInerney told he was going to shoot King — or from McInerney's girlfriend, who said McInerney told her he was going to beat up a gay kid at school.

Hecht said he did.

Fox then argued her lone wolf theory, where a single individual carries out an act of violence to make a statement for his beliefs. She has said McInerney was a white supremacist who hated gays and shot King to further his beliefs. On Monday she compared him to Timothy McVeigh, the famed lone wolf who blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City.

But Wippert argued if McInerney was a lone wolf, he would have tried to kill as many people as possible, including a known lesbian who was in the E.O. Green classroom that day.

After the defense rested, the jury was sent out and there was a short debate as to whether the jury will be given the option of considering a voluntary manslaughter charge, which the defense is hoping for, based on the argument that King was sexually harassing and provoking McInerney.

"The evidence shows that we had a series of incidents we are considering provocative conduct," McInerney's other lawyer Robyn Bramson said. "If you look at the totality of the evidence, we believe that its shows that Larry targeted Brandon specifically."

Fox disagreed.

"The entire defense is built on a bias against the victim and the hope that people will buy into the argument that whatever Larry King did and the way that he dressed was so provocative that a reasonable person would act the same way the defendant did," she said. "It's strange and nauseating at the same time."

Further arguments regarding jury instructions will be held later in the week.

Fox's lone rebuttal witness, Kris Mohandie, a criminal psychologist who has studied school shootings and other violent acts, testified, countering what psychologist Donald Hoagland said for the defense last week.

Hoagland testified that McInerney was in a dissociative state when he shot King, a time of intense emotional stimulation where the person is not completely aware of his actions or the consequences. He argued that a pattern of sexual harassment by King pushed McInerney to shoot him.

"Do you agree with Dr. Hoagland that the defendant was in a dissociative state at the moment of the shooting?" Fox asked Mohandie.

"No, absolutely not," Mohandie said.

He said it is common for people not to register or remember what is going on during a traumatic situation like a shooting. Police, even after they are involved in multiple shootings, often can't remember the moment shots are fired when adrenaline is flooding the body.

The fact that McInerney was calm as he planned the shooting the night before and stole the gun from his grandfather's bedroom shows he was well aware of what he was going to do, he said.

He said McInerney had many of the symptoms of conduct disorder, which include acts of violence, bullying, cruelty to animals and fighting.

There are two kinds of violence, he said, predatory and affective. Predatorial is more akin to a proactive, planned act, like to a cat planning and stalking its prey. Affective is the instinctive reaction to an immediate threat, like a cat arching its back when it is threatened.

Though outside the presence of the jury, Mohandie earlier said he thought McInerney's act was a predatory one. The judge said the jurors would decide that.